Howdy folks!
I’ve recently been having a pretty major issue with my 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 5.2L. I made a trip from VA to SC and during my trip many bumps sent my truck into neutral (South Carolina really needs to fix their roads). I was able to shift back with the column shifter into drive and she didn’t have any problems with shifting gears or anything until I would hit another bump and go into neutral. What kinda problems should I be looking for?

 

Check the shifter linkage for any sloppiness. I suspect you have a bushing in the shifter linkage that's deteriorated and needs replacement.

 

Look at body mounts as well......

 

How are your shocks? I have also had this issue with the wonderful pothole and patched laden roads I drive on. It hasn't happened since I replaced the shocks.

 

Just got it checked out, one of the shifter rods was pretty sloppy. We couldn’t find a replacement for it and wound up fixing it up in the shop and it was no longer loose. Bushings looked fine and not too bad, according to the shop. Drove around a bit but hit a pot hole and knocked me back into neutral

 

Ive had the truck a few years and never replaced them, I’ll give that a shot and hope it helps. Hitting any hold jerks the truck around and is probably what’s just knocking it around. I’ll let yall know if it fixed it!

 

Check your engine and transmission mounts. Especially the left front engine mount. It's the one that usually fails under strain. The engine can lift a little and pull the shifter.

In high school, my father bought a '67 Galaxie as he was tired of shifting gears. We didn't know the previous owners fiancée' had replaced the bad engine in her car with his old race engine when he changed sponsors. The car had a K block 289 and that's the car my dad gave to his lead footed son to drive. I replaced 6 or 7 left motor mounts. I could tell it needed replacing as the column shifter would move when I gave it throttle.

Open the hood and put your truck in gear. Press HARD on the brake and give it some throttle. You may see the engine move upwards.

 

Checked the engine mounts and they were shot, wound up getting those replaced with new shocks because it was overdue anyways. The problem still occurs and when I hopped under and played with the linkage on the transmission it was hard to pop it out of any gear except going forward from drive to neutral, it was extremely easy. Is there anyway to tighten it or something inside the transmission that would be the problem?

 

How is the trans mount? Body mounts for the cab?

 

Transmission mount

Driver side forward cab mount

Drivers side mid cab mount

here are pictures of the mounts, the drivers front and passenger front one is definitely a “little” worn down but all the others looked fine, it doesn’t look as if the transmission mount is worn down but I may be wrong